February 1, 2006
Aston Villa management immediately announced that David O'Leary was fired. After receiving the news, David O'Leary just sighed. David O'Leary, I knew a long time ago that I was on a tightrope.
With the remaining half-year salary of Aston Villa and the club he had paid David O'Leary the half-season contract that David O'Leary had left, David O'Leary left Aston Villa with ease, but what he left was a disaster, I leave the team in the drop zone.
On February 1, 2006, on the same day as David O'Leary was fired, Aston Villa announced the new head coach of the first team.
"In view of the season held so far, the club decided to stop counting on the services of David O'Leary. The coach of the youth team of the club, Alexander Coates, was chosen as the new coach of the club, until the end of the season ".
There was no press conference, only the news was announced in the main newspapers of the city. However, when the news came out, an uproar was immediately triggered.
"The youngest coach of the premier! Alexander Coates, 25, is the temporary coach of Aston Villa!"
"The new head coach of Aston Villa is actually the son of the club's second largest shareholder. What is the reason for the club to give such an important position to someone so young?"
It is logical that the Aston Villa team that has fallen in the relegation zone has changed its head coach. It is normal for the head coach of the youth team to be in charge. However, Alexander's age and his identity have become the attention of the media.
At the same time, some of Alexander's things began to be unearthed by journalists: 16 years traveled to study in the United States, the most surprising thing is that he did not go to high school, he was accepted at Stanford University at such an age Young, four years later he returned to Birmingham, at the age of 20 he began his training to be a technical director, at the age of 23 he was received as a technical director, achieving first place in his promotion and that same year he held the position as coach of the Aston Villa youth team. In just 2 years in the youth team, I achieved that the team that always fought in the lower areas of the table, managed to occupy the third place in the table of the youth soccer league.
"From the point of view of achievements, Alexander would be a great candidate for the position of coach, but his age leaves many doubts of what he could achieve, in the position of technician, young coaches have always been underestimated."
Newspapers and people who are not aware of Alexander's training had many doubts, but the loyal fans of Aston Villa, who went to the club's youth team matches knew what Alexander had accomplished in a short period of 2 years.
At 9 am on February 2, the training base of Aston Villa.
During winter, the sun rises later in the morning. The training base was in a small town in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire County in England, located in and with a bridge over the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.
Alexander was dressed in a diver and a jacket, which made him look very attractive with his height of 1.86 meters, his light brown hair and his light green eyes.
"They listened, we will have a new coach."
The person who spoke was Lee Hendrie was a youth player and one of the oldest of Aston Villa, this was his eleventh season with the club.
Gareth Barry sat quietly in the locker room of the training camp. He was the star of the club, he was currently 24 years old. This young midfielder is one of the greatest talents that English football has given. He can play in any position of the center of the field, also as a side, he has been the main player in Aston Villa for more than six seasons, he is also the team captain.
There was also Mark Delaney, another of the most veteran of the team, his position was on the right side, considered a genius, but the injuries have not allowed him to demonstrate his full potential.
Suddenly a person enters the changing room of the training camp.
"Go out to the training camp, the new coach is about to arrive and hopes to meet with all of us, don't be late." The person who spoke was the star striker of the team Juan Pablo Angel. Despite being considered the main striker, this was his worst season for the goal, he only scored 2 goals.
Alexander stood beside the training camp and was talking to his assistant coach Erik ten Hag.
"Erik, how were the usual workouts organized?" Alexander asked.
Erik ten Hag replied: "In terms of training, the team focuses almost all training on physical issues and tactical combination."
"Well ..." Alexander nodded slightly. He had seen several of the previous coach's workouts. Naturally, he knows how much training there is at Aston Villa. It seems that the discipline and status of the players should not be a problem, but the tactical combination is a big problem. Also the morale of the players is currently very low, and if you want to influence your players in your playing style it is very difficult, currently there can be very drastic changes.
"First, we must bring a victory," Alexander thought in his heart.
While Alexander was thinking about the following, the Mallorca players had left the locker room. After all the players left, Alexander looked at the clock and nodded with satisfaction.
All players were present.
At this time, Alexander's advantage is that several players knew him. Although he was young and was the son of the second largest shareholder of the club, he had made a name in the lower categories.
Alexander simply looked at them and then simply said:
"Start training."